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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 9:31:10 GMT -5
Greetings from the US. Searching for our Lee ancestral village in Sunwei/Sunhui/Xinhui. I have documents from US Immigration and the American Consulate General in Hong Kong from the early 1900s. My great grandfather Lee Kan was a Merchant and made many trips to San Francisco and Tucson, Arizona where he left two of his sons to set up US businesses. He kept his permanent residence in China. In these documents, he states his birth village is ***Sam Kar, Sun Wui district**** Sorry, this is exactly how it is written from 1929, interpreted to English by a White American stenographer lol. Does anyone recognize what was the village of SAM GAR/SAM KAR? There is another mention of a Sam Chuen. Any clue where/what these are called now? I am new to this group and just beginning the ancestral village search. Thank you!
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Post by Henry on Feb 15, 2019 11:18:38 GMT -5
Hi PattyL
Is your great grandfather buried in the US, possible to get a digital photo of his gravestome - which would provide Chinese characters for the name of his village ?
Henry
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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 12:08:32 GMT -5
This document from 1929 has another name or spelling for the village in Xinhui. This one says Sam Chuen?
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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 12:13:02 GMT -5
Henry, I accidentally deleted the first reply to your question I traced Great Grandfather Lee Kan to Hong Kong in his late age. I was unable to search beyond this last HK address. I assumed he was sent back to the village in Xinhui to be buried. His son, my Yeh Yeh, is buried here in the US. I will have to ask one of the family about his headstone. I cannot recall if his site had Chinese characters engraved. Thank you for your reponse.
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Post by Henry on Feb 15, 2019 12:38:50 GMT -5
PattyL, If you can provide a clear digital photo of your grandfather's gravestone, which has Chinese characters - this is probably all we need to identify the village. Once the Lee ancestral village can be identified - the next step is to try and get a copy of the village genealogy book - that contains the names of your ggf & gf. The Lee village genealogy probably traces 30 + generations to Lee Dong, the first Lee ancestor to come to Guangdong province - Lee Dong is buried in Xinhui county. My friends & I have traced the 100 + generations from Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) down to Lee Dong. BTW, my mom was a Lee. Our Overseas Chinese Genealogy Workshop in Nov 2019 will visit the grave of Lee Dong in Xinhui county. This is a link to a summary of our past China workshop in Nov 2018 : [ www.dropbox.com/s/onppjgyzfynz1pv/2018%20Overseas%20Chinese%20Genealogy%20Workshop%20Summary.pdf?dl=0 ] Henry
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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 14:22:26 GMT -5
Henry,
I will work on your suggestions.
My mother was Don(g)
I will take a look at the workshop link right away. Sounds interesting. If I can find my family, I certainly will travel to meet them!
Patty
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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 17:45:11 GMT -5
Henry, I just spoke to my aunt. No Chinese characters are on my grandfather's crypt in California. Thanks for the suggestion!
Patty
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Post by Henry on Feb 15, 2019 21:33:54 GMT -5
PattyL,
Does your aunt have the Chinese obituary for your grandfather, local Chinese newspaper or the funeral home may have a copy.
In the obituary, they usually have the name of the village where he was born and the names of all the family members
Henry
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Post by PattyL on Feb 15, 2019 22:21:15 GMT -5
Henry, Obituary. No one has a copy, but I will start looking in online archives. We have the name of the village **Sam Kar**, Sunwui. But I am unable to match that name to anything current by that name in Xinhui today. I will go look for grandfather's obituary anyway. Thanks for the tip! Patty
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Post by lachinatown on Feb 15, 2019 23:48:42 GMT -5
I would guess Sam Chuen would be Three Village. Not sure, if there is such village or township.
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Post by gckimm on Feb 16, 2019 1:37:44 GMT -5
Hi Patty: I have done some internet research for you and I think I have found the village. According to a Chinese Wikipedia page detailing the changes in administrative districts in Sunwui over the last many centuries, there was a village called Sam Gah 三家村(Sam Kar in your documents), also known as Sam Chuen 三村, as far back as the year 1690. But it looks like in 1964 that village was divided into four villages: Ping Gong 蘋崗, Doong Yut 東日, Yuet Tong 月堂, and Tim Sui 甜水, all administered by the Ngai Sai (Mandarin Yaxi) Community Residents Association 崖西社區. It looks like today all of those villages may be one village, Tim Sui, and it is located in the town of Ngai Sai 崖西鎮. (I would post the web address of the page but part of it is in Chinese and when I copy and paste, the characters turn into nonsense. Sorry, I don't know how to correct that.) One of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of Chinese genealogy is dealing with the innumerable and extremely confusing changes in China's geographical and administrative divisions: counties become cities or districts of a city or cities within a city; villages merge into other villages and disappear; names come and go. I don't know how the people in China keep up with all these changes. But the Chinese people always seem to remember with affection the place from which they come. Here is another page I found: wyq.jmlib.com/jmhq/listhq.asp?id=1225There you will see the cover of a February 2006 edition of a magazine/journal called the "Sam Chon News." It is dedicated to people from Sam Chuen (or the area that was formerly Sam Chuen?) and published by the Sam Chuen Fellow Villagers Association. Note that all those connected with the publication (and the people on the cover) are Lees. I believe it is still being published. I hope this information is helpful to you. Greg
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Post by PattyL on Feb 16, 2019 8:35:36 GMT -5
Greg, THIS. Wow, Greg, this is amazing. After dissecting your observations. I found this on a website for the Univ. of British Columbia for all the variants of Sam Chuen. Now I understand how to identify the village character name.
shong chun ?村
sam chun 三村 崖門鎮
sam toon 三村
samtoon 三村 崖門鎮
三村 崖門鎮
Sam Xinhui
I will pursue your suggestion to look within Ngai Sai 崖西鎮. This makes sense. Your time to research a bit of my dilemma has helped so very much. Thank you! PATTY
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Post by PattyL on Feb 16, 2019 8:39:00 GMT -5
Another thing I found within this Canadian project is an analysis by Rudy Chiang who took the tax records of Xinhui from the late 1800s-1900 and sorted them by village. I believe this is Ngai Mun Township. Sam Chuen/Sam (it is just below the blue circle) . My family name is here! 李 SUGGESTIONS HOW TO PINPOINT THE VILLAGE AND MAKE CONTACT? Maybe I need to get on another board and make a new post? Amazing help, thank you everyone for the assist! PattyL branchasian.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2011/09/Head_Tax_Record_SunWoy_RC.pdfPatty
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Post by lachinatown on Feb 16, 2019 11:15:52 GMT -5
Three Village (三村) is there all along.
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Post by PattyL on Feb 16, 2019 12:21:24 GMT -5
FOUND IT!!! Sancun-Three Village (三村) Thank you so much!! Patty
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